Thinking of Raising Wages? How About Raising Standards?

"The increases in the minimum wage will cause a ripple effect, increasing the expectations of all employees for pay increases." Or so goes a common line of thinking. 

This can prompt independent retailers to worry:

• How much will we have to increase prices in order to pay our staff more? 
• Where is that money going to come from? 
• What will we have to cut in order to pay more? 

Or, is there another way to think about this? How about raising standards and expectations to better match with the wages paid?  (You know, the "You get what you pay for" model.) 

Here's how to start:

• First, revisit your job descriptions. This is the first opportunity to raise standards. Make sure they reflect the performance you now expect from each position. 
• Consider delegating much of the initial data-gathering and drafting of job descriptions to someone else in your organization (especially a younger someone else!) Their energy and fresh perspective could be very valuable.
• Then, having clarified the job descriptions and performance expectations, establish an appropriate pay range for each job.
• Finally, make sure your employees each understand the new responsibilities, and the heightened expectations, of the positions in your stores. In fact, some owners have current employees essentially apply and compete for those higher-paying jobs.

For more ideas, and a process for doing this, read "Beyond the Paycheck: Motivate Employees with Creative Compensation", in the Library for Owners at The Retail Owners Institute®. 

It walks you through the entire process (including finding out what matters to your employees!) 

For most specialty retailers, your staff IS your competitive advantage. Use your compensation plan as another strategic tool to:

1. reduce employee turnover;
2. save expenses of recruiting, hiring, and training of new staff;
3. and most important, maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Something for All Growth-Minded Retailers

Retail "startups" are not limited to that new little shop down the street. Instead, a simultaneous multi-store launch is a "retail startup". So too is opening additional locations in new geographic markets. Maybe a temporary "pop up shop" to test a new retail concept. Or the launch of a robust e-commerce site. Or, manufacturers that decide to launch their own chain of stores as a way to grow their brand.

In 2009, The Retail Owners Institute® launched a specialized website, called Retail Startup, to address growth and expansion issues specific to retailers. 

It includes our commentary on each of the 3 different stages of development of a retail business.

• "Your First Store?"
• Four Strategies for Growth & Expansion
• Evaluating Retail Rollouts

But principally, it is a clearinghouse for growth-minded retailers. Out of all the resources on the web for startup businesses (those so-called "small businesses"), we have "curated" those links to find the ones most useful to retail startups. 

• Retail Management Resources
• Retail Operations Resources
• Information for Retail Growth Management
• "Small Business" Resources
• "Shop Local" Initiative
• Key Retail Financial Benchmarks, 53 Retail Segments

No matter which stage of growth and expansion you're in, you'll likely find some useful resources. Check it out for yourself. Just go to RetailStartup.com.

Retailers: Is Now the Time to Sell?

It's that time of year.  Retail owners are asking themselves, 

• "So, shall I really keep doing this? Do I want to sign more leases? Guarantee more loans?"
• "Or, while I still have my health, is now the time to sell?"

When pressed, many owners confide, "I plan to sell the business in 5 years or so." (And yes, there are owners who have been saying that each year for the past few years. It's the rolling 5-year exit plan!)

Whether or not this year is the time for you to sell, we believe that every year is the time for owners to investigate their options. 

To help get you started, The Retail Owners Institute has developed a specialized free microsite called Sell My Store, Please!  There you'll find some tips that are practical, or thought-provoking, or maybe even inspiring. 

We encourage you to be pro-active about your own exit strategy. 

There are 3 kinds of owners out there; which one do you want to be?

1. Owners who make things happen.
2. Owners who watch things happen.
3. Owners who say, "Uh...what happened?!?"

Smarter Expense Control for Retailers (and It's FREE!)

Want to get a better handle on expense control? But find that your eyes glaze over whenever you look at your P&L?

You are not alone! The typical Profit & Loss statement lists expenses in alphabetical order! Excrutiating line item detail. Ugh!

How to deal with that? And, more important, how to effectively manage, monitor and control your expenses? 

Meet The Retail Owners Institute's online SPEEDY Expense Analyzer.

The SPEEDY Expense Analyzer is perfect for every retailer's analyzing, forecasting, or "what if...?" planning. You easily enter in your line item expenses; SPEEDY automagically sorts them into 5 meaningful categories. (The ROI's technical term is "buckets".) 

See how quickly you can discover those profits that are hiding in plain sight! 

Sort your P&L's line-item expenses into 5 "buckets" 

Grab your P&L and go take a look. (Yes, it's free.) See what SPEEDY can reveal about your business!